Oh yes, here is a question, are you going to be riding with other gaited horses? If not, your gaited horse will out walk the non gaited horses. I do have that problem some days. But I’ve taught my girls to slow it down and now they “get it” and will walk the speed of the slower horses unless my faster girl gets into what I call her “groove” that is when she just trucks along at the walk and leaves everyone behind.
We have several Pasos, once we had alot more, but now we are more into Arabians. Paso Finos are really fun little horses, but in my experience they are hot, hot, hot, the Columbians at least, which are the most prevelant type. They are all heart, super quick, extremely willing and bold, and they can move right along, especially if you get one that likes to canter. They are wonderful little horses (we actually have two that are 14.2 hh, good size), but have very little natural endurance, which is why I have switched to Arabs.
Unlike the above poster, none of my Paso Finos have been really hot. They have all been gentle on the ground, with a noted increase in energy when you mount up, but none have been fire breathing dragons. All the ones I have had were from good solid trail type bloodlines, NOT show bloodlines. My mare has good endurance, but we only trail ride. I’m quite sure an Arab would beat her in a real endurance race, which is fine because I only want to trail ride.
If you want to see my mare I have a video of her and me (I’m disabled) on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Rosehorse
There’s also some trail video I shot while riding.
A good group to ask about Paso Finos is americanpasofinos.com They could help you with bloodlines and finding suitable horses in your area.
All horses have their “fast ones and slow ones”. My paso gelding is short-strided in the corto, a lot of up and down and a nice steady forward movement. Not fast at the walk and barely could canter. He was not used much until he was 15 yrs. though. My paso mare has a ground covering walk, fast corto, faster largo and nice smooth canter. She was bred and trained for the trail. Both horses could go forever.
Advice…just try LOTS of horses before you decide. They are all so different. Mine have always been well-behaved though very alert to their surroundings which can make people nervous.
We have five pasos in our barn, and each one has a different personality, way of traveling, and speed. We use ours for show, team penning, team sorting, barrell racing, pole bending and trail riding. Our one gelding has been clocked at 23 mpg in his largo, talk about the scenery flying by and he is smooth as glass. You need to take your time, go to a lot of farms for test rides and do research on the bloodlines of the horses you are looking at. Another good site to check is AmericanPasoFinos.com and the people on the forum will help you with questions you may have.
Good luck in your search, I wouldn’t trade mine for another breed (and we also have quarter horses in the barn) We go riding with various breeds and have never had a problem keeping up or slowing down with them. Once you bond with a Paso, they will do whatever to please you, they are a sure-footed, noble and dedicated breed.
